Everything Has Changed | Kike Oniwinde

Apr 08, 2020

Hey BYP Network,

We're a week into April and we've been taking some time to reflect on the current situation. As the coronavirus pandemic continues, we've seen things take a turn globally. In Chicago, 70% of deaths have been black Americans whilst in the UK, a lot of our key workers (many of whom are ethnic minorities), whether carers, bus drivers or NHS staff, have lost their lives to the virus. We've seen some of our members lose their loved ones and others' families are still going to work in high-risk environments despite not having the right protective wear. On top of this, many of our members are losing their jobs with slimming prospects of finding employment in this current climate. In fact, this crisis is expected to wipe out 195 million full-time workers globally in the second quarter of 2020. As we know, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in intensive care along with thousands of others around the globe. We pray for their recovery and our condolences to everyone who has recently lost a loved one.

Here at BYP, everything has changed. We've changed our monthly offline events to weekly Instagram Lives, we're no longer launching in 30 cities around the world but we've instead created 30 online groups from Manchester to Miami and Leicester to Lagos, and with many of our corporate partners freezing their hiring process, we're now also offering roles that are open to all levels. As we've said before, we can't control the uncontrollable, but we can adapt, and so can you. We're in a pandemic: the only thing we should be thinking about is survival. Ensuring you, your families and loved ones survive, ensuring your finances survive and ensuring both your own physical and mental health survives. The next couple of years are going to be difficult, but we can all get through this with the right plan of action. It's about knowing that we're not alone, we're all going through this together. We all need to support each other and being part of an active community is the way we'll get through this.

We've had some inconsistencies over the past few weeks and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We've been working on getting our new website up and running for you all, and we're excited to share that it's even more collaborative than before. If you're a business owner or have a side hustle, you can list your business for all our members to see. If you have a virtual event that you want to share, whether it's your own or one you've come across that you think would benefit the community, you can post it in our Events Calendar. And, as mentioned before, there are different groups you can join and jobs that require varying skill levels.

In this time of crisis, BYP is here for the long-run and we want to support you in every way and would like you to support others in the BYP community. As we've said before, we're in a pandemic and the only thing that matters right now is surviving this together.